
However, the effects from a human perspective can still be quite dramatic. This makes the features of transform boundaries decidedly less exciting. Unlike divergent and convergent boundaries, at transform boundaries no new crust is created, and there is no subduction (or sandwiching) of plates. When this happens, the scraping of the two plates causes earthquakes.

A transform boundary (or conservative boundary) is where two of the tectonic plates slide alongside each other. They can move towards each other, move away from each other, and slide alongside each other. And just like with a pool, the floats sometimes randomly hit each other. Although it seems like the Earth’s crust is huge and immovable, the ground is actually moving all the time as it floats on a sea of hot magma. The Earth is like a pool covered with floats of different sizes and shapes that we call tectonic plates. Send us feedback.* All Partners were chosen among 50+ writing services by our Customer Satisfaction Team What is a Transform Boundary? These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'convergent.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Joshua Sokol, New York Times, 8 June 2019 See More 2019 Se Jin Song, a biologist at the University of California San Diego and the study’s lead author, had previously studied the convergent evolution of gut bacteria. Rachel Weiner, Washington Post, 23 July 2019 This is an example of what biologists call convergent evolution, when organisms evolve the same traits multiple times in different ways.Īvery Thompson, Popular Mechanics, 10 Apr. 2019 Lacking concrete proof of Turkey’s involvement, prosecutors pointed to convergent falsehoods told by Alptekin, Flynn and Rafiekian as well as the odd evolution of the project. 2020 In rodents, defense against predators (interspecies) and alpha males (conspecifics) activates very similar brain structures and behaviors, suggesting that there was substantial convergent evolution of these defenses.ĭean Mobbs, Scientific American, 20 Sep. Sara Kiley Watson, Popular Science, 9 Jan.

2020 This study demonstrates convergent evolution, Thomas says, as these creatures are so far off the evolutionary pathway from humans, but are in some ways similar to us. 2020 Unrelated species sometimes arrive at remarkably similar anatomies through a process called convergent evolution.Īsher Elbein, New York Times, 25 Feb. Sarah Lewin Frasier, Scientific American, 1 July 2015 Its hostile currents and depths of more than 700 feet are an incredible natural laboratory for studying convergent evolution, or how diverse species develop similar environmental adaptations.Īsher Elbein, New York Times, 25 Feb. Recent Examples on the Web Or did the auditory systems evolve independently to perform the same function, a phenomenon called convergent evolution?
